. >>> reporter: president obama dispatched his chief negotiator tim geithner to capitol hill to work on a "fiscal cliff" deal. house speaker john boehner came out of his meeting with the treasury secretary demanding the white house get serious about spending cuts. >> no substantive progress has been made in the talks between the white house and the house over the last two weeks. >> reporter: if a compromise isn't reached soon, automatic tax hikes and steep budget cuts will kick in january 1. geithner moved from one end of the capitol to the other encouraging lawmakers to sign off on an extension of middle class tax cuts now. democrats say their position is clear and they want a serious offer from republicans. >> the american people want us to avoid the "fiscal cliff" with a balanced approach. >> reporter: geithner is here in the halls of congress trying to clear some big hurdles with republicans. once a deal is closer president obama will take over the talks. so far independent senator joe lieberman is not encouraged. >> if we go over the cliff it's going to send the country back int